Saturday 30 June 2012 19.03 EDT
First published on Saturday 30 June 2012 19.03 EDT

Grief is tidal. It can sweep a person away, suck them down and submerge them completely. In Monique Roffey's compelling new novel Gavin and his six-year-old daughter, Océan, have suffered a family tragedy with which both are still struggling to cope. Gavin's answer is to leave their Trinidad home behind and take to the water with his young daughter and their old dog Suzy in tow.

The novel takes the form of a journey, the purpose of which is at times unclear; Gavin and his daughter head out for the Galápagos but the destination always feels secondary to the act of getting there. Roffey, herself from Port of Spain, writes like one who knows these waters well, their beauty and their capacity to cleanse, but also their volatility.

The writing is studded with striking images – the dog's nose is as pink as a scrap of ballet shoe – and there's a real sense of momentum, of Gavin's deep need to keep going. Roffey is adept at conveying wonder, of the father and daughter both, at the things they encounter along the way, and if the final wrapping up is a little too neat, the journey is what counts here, the journey is all.